Convent de Bon Secours is an historic residence located in the

Tenleytown Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C. History In 1790, locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally. Over time, the spelling has evolved and by the 19th century th ...

neighborhood in the Northwest Quadrant of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It has been listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

since 2004.

History

The Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours was founded in France in 1824. They came to the United States in the 1880s and came to Washington in 1905 during a

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

epidemic to provide healthcare. They were particularly beneficial during a

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

outbreak after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., in 1905, the Sisters moved into the old rectory at St. Ann's Church in Tenleytown. Between 1927 and 1928, the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italia ...

style convent was constructed to be the chapter house for the Washington, D.C., location for the Sisters.National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, "Convent de Con Secours", November 19, 2004.
/ref> The -story structure clad in buff-colored brick was designed by Irish-born architect Maurice F. Moore. The building is composed of a main dormitory section with a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus ...

, a chapel, a small arcaded tower, and rear

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

s that are reminiscent of a Renaissance

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places Convents in the United States District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites Italianate architecture in Washington, D.C. Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Religious buildings and structures completed in 1928 Italianate church buildings in the United States